4 ▼ October 2 0 . I M S T ju st ou t
world briefs
C o bb & W oodw orth
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ARGENTINA
There are three new lesbian groups in Argen
tina, activists reported on the Internet.
Escrita en el Cuerpo (Written on the Body)
collects press clippings, diaries, letters, photos,
tapes and books about lesbians’ personal and
political lives and publishes a news bulletin. Write
Alejandra Sarda, Piedras 1170 lero. B, 1070-
Buenos Aires, Argentina; call 011 -54-1 -931 -9648;
or e-mail ales@wamani.apc.org.
Grupo de Integración Lesbica (Lesbian Inte
gration Group) offers discussion groups and tack
les political issues. Write Mirta Molinari, Guemes
4581 P.B., Buenos Aires, Argentina; or call
011-54-1-774-5796.
Lesbianas a la Vista (Lesbians on Sight) stages
art performances in
“ u n c o n v e n tio n a l
places.” On Sept. 21
they flew kites
painted with lesbian
messages in a p u b -.
lie park. They also
offer co m in g -o u tÿ& xÿjfcS
groups and give
workshops (at pub
lic events, schools
and private organi
zations), and will
open a hotline for lesbians abused by their lovers.
Contact information is the same as for Escrita en
el Cuerpo.
CANADA
Canada’s nationwide Scotiabank has extended
all benefits except pensions to the lovers of gay
and lesbian employees, according to an internal
memo obtained by this columnist.
The bank’s vice-president for human resources
said Scotiabank is committed to a workplace free
of discrimination and harassment.
▼ ▼ ▼
Canada’s House of Commons rejected on Sept.
18 gay Member of Parliament Réal Ménard’s bill
to legally recognize same-sex marriages.
The vote was 124-52. The measure was sup
ported by most MPs from M énard’s Bloc
Québécois party and by a few Liberals, including
Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps.
“We can win other fights,” Ménard told the
Associated Press. “The next fight we’ll win.”
CHINA
A new book published in Taiwan says nearly
all Chinese gay men marry women due to social
pressure.
Dark Souls Under the Red Sun by Taipei
reporter AnKe-chiang. is the result of two months
of research. He interviewed gay men in the cities
o f Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, G uangzhou,
Shenzhen, Shenyang, Harbin, Dalian, Qingdao.
Nanjing, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan. Xi’an
and Ürilmqi.
Every interviewee said the only way to sur
vive is to get married, with the possibility of
divorcing later and maybe not remarrying.
The men also said they fear the police more
than they fear AIDS.
COSTA RICA
The government has launched a program to
teach policemen to respect gay men and transves
tites, the local gay press reported.
The report said the program is a direct result of
lawsuits filed by drag queens who were abused by
police.
FRANCE
The Atlantic port city of Saint-Nazaire started
issuing registration certificates to same-sex
couples Sept. 14. according to a Reuter report.
Deputy Mayor Maxime Batard said the docu
ment will help lesbians and gay men obtain ben-
çfit£ /iyw ay«plabl,e,t 9 ruptn^rned heterosexual
couples— such as access to national health care
for a nonworking partner, family travel fares and
rent subsidies.
“All we have sought to do is give homosexuals
the same rights as other citizens,” Batard said. “If
it can get things moving on a national level, that
would be pretty good.”
National authorities will now have to decide
whether to go ahead and open up such programs
as the socialized medicine system.
THE NETHERLANDS
Half of gay Dutch blue-collar workers feel
intimidated by workmates and 15 percent say
their sexuality limits their careers, a new labor-
union survey found.
Twenty-five percent of the men surveyed were
closeted at work.
The report also said many of the employers
discriminate against gays by offering pensions
and other benefits only to heterosexual couples.
POLAND
Poland’s Committee for the Protection of Ra
dio Listeners and TV Viewers has filed a “report
of offense” with the public prosecutor in an at
tempt to stop the film Priest from being shown.
The prosecutor said he will watch the film and
decide whether to confiscate all copies using his
right to “secure the proof and the tool of offense.”
SPAIN
More than 1,000 gay men raised $ 1,300 for the
financially strapped International Lesbian and
Gay Association recently at El Candil discothèque
in the town of Sitges.
T he party, o rg an ized by B arce lo n a ’s
Coordinadora Gai-Lesbiana, was in honor of
ILGA’s 17th an
niversary. CGL
head Jordi Petit
is one of ILGA’s
new co-secretar
ies general.
This summer,
ILGA said it
would have to
cease operations
without an infu
sion of some $30,000. The financial mess is partly
the fault of the 1994 Gay Games, which went
bankrupt and never distributed funds raised for
ILGA in New York in 1994 by British actor Sir
Ian McKellen, who left the money in Gay Games’
care.
A federation o f several hundred gay and les
bian groups from more than 80 countries, ILGA is
the key link between activists in Western nations
and the growing gay movements in the Third
World and the former East Bloc. Other ILGA
activities include annual world and regional con
ferences, a news bulletin and issuance of action
alerts. Of late, ILGA also has worked, with sub
stantial success, to increase lesbian and gay clout
in the United Nations, the European Union, the
Council of Europe, Amnesty International and
the World Health Organization.
ILGA
M % *'
TASMANIA
Although the government here is still fighting
a United Nations ruling that it must legalize gay
sex, Tasmanian Police Minister Frank Madill said
on Sept. 1 that gay men and lesbians are welcome
as police officers.
Asked if there actually are any gay cops in the
Australian island state, Madill said, “Because we
don’t ask, we don’t know.”
Tasmania is the only remaining state to ban
gay sex. Last year, the U.N. Human Rights Com
mittee found the law in violation of the Interna
tional Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to
which Australia is a signatory. The federal legis
lature then passed a law to neutralize the statute,
but whether they succeeded constitutionally will
not be known until a court case tests the matter.
‘
v ‘ * Compiled by Rex Wockner